Page 4 of Love Like Lightning

“Gianna, or Gia. Nice to meet you.” I don’t try to shake his hand since both of them are full, but I grin right back at him.

“Gianna, a beautiful name for a beautiful woman.”

The line doesn’t sound cheesy coming out of his mouth. Unfortunately. But I still roll my eyes.

“I’m not drinking, FYI. Just so you know, in case we do run into each other later.”

That’s kind of a weird line. I'm not sure why he would feel the need to—Oh. Okay. Wow. I make a very conscious decision to not respond to that comment even as I quietly deciding to close my tab and sip on water for the rest of my night.

“And what’s your name?”

He goes to respond but seems to stumble over his answer, eyebrows furrowing before he finally speaks.

He shoots me a heated look, and just before he walks off into the crowd, he answers me.

“Henry.”

2

Gianna

I’m nursing my third water, and I’m coming up to another exciting part in my book. All the while wondering if I might actually see Henry again tonight.

At this point, if I keep reading, I’m going to finish the book. And I could just do that in bed. It’s been over two hours since my interaction with Henry, and I don’t even know if I’d be up for…anything with him. I’ve never been with anyone in a casual capacity, not really. And I’ve never been with a complete stranger. The idea of it is equally thrilling and nerve-racking.

The crowd in the bar has thinned considerably as the night has worn on, and I’ve already settled up with Betty. I stop myself from taking a cursory look around to see if Henry’s even still here. There’s no reason to. We had such a brief exchange that he probably got preoccupied with his going away party and totally forgot about me.

Without another thought, I stand, slip my phone into my pocket, and grab my North Face jacket. Slipping it on, I turn toward the exit and find Henry's group congregating at the door.

I try to work out quickly if there’s a possible back exit or some other way to avoid them completely. Faced with him again, nerves start fluttering low in my stomach, and I don’t know what the hell I was thinking. Before I can slink away, Henry spots me and walks right up to me.

“Hey, sorry. It got late, everyone got lost in the sauce, and I’m the DD.” He smiles, and I watch his cheeks pink slightly.

If I didn’t know he was sober, I’d easily blame it on alcohol. But maybe he’s just a little bit embarrassed? Nervous?

I’m not quite sure, but it’s sweet.

It’s probably for the best that the stars didn’t align tonight.

“No worries. I’m actually just heading back to my room. It was nice meeting you. I hope you had a good night.”

He looks at me for what feels like an eternity, pinning me with those hypnotic hazel eyes of his. “Listen, I live just down the block from the bed and breakfast. If you’re still interested in continuing our night, I can shoot you a text once I’m done dropping off these clowns?”

“Hey, Hammer, let’s go!” one of the guys in his group calls out with a laugh. We both look over. The guy with the dark curly hair has his arms around the short blonde and a goofy smile on his face. He’s clearly a few drinks deep.

Henry slips his phone into my hands before I can even think about what a bad idea this is. My fingers fly as I add my name and number so quickly I have to double check I’m not giving him the wrong one.

Should I give him a fake number? I’m probably not coming back to this little town, so maybe this is a good opportunity to try something new. But am I really the kind of person who does this?

I dispel those thoughts and try to hold on to the boldness I had earlier. I force myself to hand the phone back, correct number and all.

“Awesome, I’ll shoot you a text in a bit. No pressure if you end up going to bed or just decide you’re not interested.” He flashes me that showstopper grin, and the corners of his eyes crinkle in the most endearing way.

Before he turns to leave, I decide to lean into this adventurously bold energy that’s flowing through me. “I stopped drinking a couple of hours ago. Just FYI.” I imitate the way he told me he wasn’t drinking earlier. “I’ll keep my phone ringer on.” I flick the ring on my thumb, making it spin, and I can’t help giving him a small smile when his grin turns just a little lascivious.

Without another word, he nods and rejoins his group, and I watch as they all walk out of the bar. The gust of cool air that blows in shocks my system.

What the hell am I doing?

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